Luke 16:14-15
The Pharisees, who were lovers of money, heard all these things, and they ridiculed him. And he said to them, “You are those who justify yourselves before men, but God knows your hearts. For what is exalted among men is an abomination in the sight of God.
Truth: God doens't value money the same way as man.
For those who are working to "earn" this passage from Luke's Gospel is very important to understand and digest. God has a different priority about wealth. In today's society, much more than in the days of the Pharisees, we equate financial wealth with success. The Pharisees equated financial wealth with God's blessings. It is of little doubt that when they heard Jesus' teaching and equated the disciplines and Jesus as poor, and therefore not blessed by God. They were lovers of money ... money equated to power for them. Note the principle Jesus states, however, in regard to their belief system: "For what is exalted among men is an abomination in the sight of God." The immediate context of this statement is in regard to financial gain and accumulated wealth as a measurement for God's blessing, and by inference, success. What is quite powerful in the statement is that our Savior uses "abomination" to describe such a thought process. That changes our thinking (or, should change it) in regard to why we work and what we are attempting to accumulate. Jesus' point it that the heart that has money on the altar is an abomination to God. Whatever we exalt in place of Jesus will be an abomination in the sight of God ... and, what is in our heart IS in the sight of God. Whatever we exalt, when it is not Christ, is an abomination. God demands that He is on the throne. Nothing else is worthy to be on the throne of our hearts. Money is a heart issue, not a earnings issue. Money is a detractor that the world system, at the hands of Satan's fingers, is used to pull us away from the priority and obligation of worship. We are sucked into the vortex of earning wealth at an early age. Children are taught to earn for the purpose of purchasing or saving for something. The Pharisees would be proud of our modern day teaching to youth about money, earning and purpose in life. What Jesus is teaching in these two chapters is the priority we ought to have for the lost and for finding those who need to hear the message of the Gospel. God is in the business to seeking the lost (the lost lamb, the lost coin, the lost son ... all examples of God's passion and our purpose). If anything else is on the throne of our lives it is an "abomination" in the sight of God.
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